Stop the Michigan luxury tax
I received an email today from the Detroit Red Wings asking all those on the season ticket waiting list to help stop the Michigan luxury tax with a link to this website.
The Governor and the legislature are seriously considering putting a $100 million a year tax on every ticket to professional sporting events, shows, concerts, and movie tickets in Michigan. They are calling it a “luxury tax.â€
This tax would be 6% on all tickets for sporting events, movies, concerts, and shows.
According to a member at the Lets Go Wings forums, GM Ken Holland sent an email out to all the current season ticket holders and this is what it said:
Dear Detroit Red Wings Season Ticket Holder:
Discussion is currently underway in the Michigan Legislature regarding a possible tax on “luxury services,†which potentially could include tickets to professional sporting events.
As a loyal season ticket holder, we wanted to make you aware of these talks taking place in Lansing. If this issue is of interest to you, we would encourage you to contact your State Senator and State Representative to voice your opinion.
We appreciate the commitment you have made to our club and thank you for your continued support of the Detroit Red Wings!
Sincerely,
Ken Holland
General Manager
Why would Michigan consider doing this? Because this state is in such a huge deficit and needs a way to bring in money. Yes, I understand that this deficit needs to decrease and the money has to come from somewhere, but as a college student this sucks.
College students like myself pay for books, tuition, rent, food, and extras. In my free time, I like to go see movies or a attend a sporting event. Ticket prices at movie theaters and sports arenas are already expensive enough without a luxury tax.
Apparently Wings’ owner Mike Ilitch is one of the brains behind the website opposing this luxury ticket tax.
Mike Ilitch, owner of the Detroit Tigers, Detroit Red Wings and other venues like the Fox Theatre and Bill Davidson, who owns the Detroit Pistons and several concert venues launched a Web site to get you to speak out about the tax. …
Opponents to the tax said it unfairly burdens Detroit, the biggest concert and sports venue area in the state.
The Detroit Tigers put up a press release on their website with the title “They already tax our work, don’t let them tax our play.”
A family of four with season tickets to the Tigers would be forced to pay new taxes ranging from $230 to more than $1,200 per year.
A family of four with season tickets to the Red Wings would be forced to pay new taxes from $597 to more than $1,900 per year.
The Ticket Tax Targets Families, Kids and Teenagers.
Taking your family to a ball game, a show, or a movie is one of the most cherished traditions in Michigan. It’s not a luxury. It’s the way we spend our hard earned money after all the taxes are taken out of our paychecks and all the bills are paid. It’s how teenagers spend their babysitting money and kids spend their allowances.
I sent a message to the Governor and my state representative. If you live in Michigan and attend any sporting event or go to the movies or go golfing, etc, please contact these people and ask them to stop the Michigan luxury tax!
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8 Responses to “Stop the Michigan luxury tax”
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June 16th, 2007 at 12:05 am
Great, because if Michigan needs anything to make life better it’s another tax.
I’d love to move back to SE Michigan after grad school, but unless Gov. Granholm figures out you can reduce a budget deficit by cutting spending too I don’t know if moving near home makes economic sense.
June 16th, 2007 at 3:52 pm
Ilitch is one of the “400 Richest Americans.” The state would require him to pay a surcharge on every ticket he sels. He’s choosing to pass it on to fans.
Taxpayer subsidies have helped him build his playground. Don’t you think it’s time he repaid the taxpayers fund?
Think about it, Ilitch opposes this luxury/entertainment surcharge to pay for education and other basic services because he’s got his own plans to jack up ticket prices to line his own pockets and even get the taxpayers to subsidize his new arena.
If there was a surcharge to pay for education and such, he couldn’t afford to jack up prices for his own benefit. Who should get the money our kids? or Mike Ilitch?
He’s already worth $1.5 billion. How much more does a near 80-year old man need?
June 18th, 2007 at 12:22 pm
This is the worst tax idea ever, all it will due is encourage people to stop going out. That’s bad because then people won’t do stuff like buy dinner while they’re out, popcorn or bars or other local businesses that actually raise state money. It’s one thing to raise taxes in an affluent booming market, but in a struggling one, like Detroit and MI is, it’s terrible.
If the state wants to get out of debt they should actually lower the taxes on stuff like this, because it would encourage people to go out and pour their money into the local economies, like restaurants, gasoline, and gift shops. They should also put money into tourism efforts which would bring money into the state from out of state and tax things like plane tickets which people use to spend their money out of state.
Just an awful idea to raise taxes on these things. (And I’m liberal
, but raising these taxes is a bad bad idea.)
June 18th, 2007 at 8:06 pm
[…] The Gov. of Michigan wants to institute a 6% luxury tax on ticket sales. Christy at Behind the Jersey has all the details… Not sure how I feel about this yet- The tax would require the owner to pay the tax on every ticket sold. Eventually, the fans would be paying for it, or will they? Share and Enjoy: These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages. […]
June 18th, 2007 at 9:17 pm
The lack of playoff sellouts showed that people are pretty price sensitive right now, so I think we’re at a point of elasticity in the demand for tickets. Combine that with the supply inelasticity (Illitch can’t really change the number of games he “provides”) and I think most of the tax incidence is going to fall on him, even if he is a greedy bastard that hates children and poor people and puppies and whatever else.
I totally agree the taxpayers shouldn’t be funding a new arena. If Illitch wants a new arena, let him build it. If it doesn’t make economic sense for Illitch to build it himself, it probably doesn’t make sense for the government to do it. The economic activity that Jibblescribbits talks about is good, but the Wings are only going to be generating that 41 nights a year. When your taxes are already strangling the economy the best way to solve the problem of spending more money than you have is to stop spending so much money.
June 18th, 2007 at 9:37 pm
Folks, ticket prices would still be down a net 4% because under the sweetheart renewal contract scenario Coleman Young left us the city will no longer get its 10% surcharge. Oh yeah that’s if Mike doesn’t increase the ticket prices for the new arena 103% like he did when fans moved over th Comerica Park from Tiger Stadium. Taxpayers subsidize construction and then they subsidize the owners’ share of the project when he jacks up the new ticket prices anyway.
If people aren’t willing to pay a tax like this that at least consumers have a choice over, we’ll all end up paying and there will be no choice ’cause either they’ll be an income tax increase for everyone or the schools will be cut back even more.
Hockey’s a good thing for Detroit but you don’t have to be a total Kool-Aid drinker and buy into this guys bull … he’s worse than politicians at least we can toss them out every couple of years as a form of regulation … he runs around unchecked.
June 18th, 2007 at 10:54 pm
You know what… I am tired of being taxed to death!!! The price of gas is outrageous and the price of everything else is going to go up even higher due to shipping costs (fuel charges) Leave my play alone!!!!!!!
June 19th, 2007 at 4:57 pm
ColBerdan, TonyH, and jibblescribbits- I agree. This tax would suck. The state of Michigan is already in the crapper with a $2 billion deficit. Taxing the fun stuff in people’s life isn’t such a good idea. Why people elected Granholm back into office, I’ll never know…
Frank Lee- I was confused a bit by your first comment. So Ilitch would have to pay a surcharge on every ticket that sells and the consumer pays the 6% tax? Is it an either or type of deal?